Michael Jackson sang to the notes of Billie Jean, the nights began with an aperitif (the legendary Ape) and the young people danced carefree. Italy won the World Cup and raced through the streets in the saddle of the Ciao. In the tables strictly the Vodka pennette, a cult dish from this glorious decade.

The origins of this recipe are rather dubious, some say it was a first course born in a restaurant in Bologna, the "Dante", where flambé was prepared in front of the diners. Or who instead attributes their invention to a New York chef. The "alcoholic" penne or half penne, a real boom in the boom years, which were prepared in a few simple steps with some irreplaceable ingredients: distillate of the Russian tradition and the tomato puree local. The other ingredients were freely interpretable (there are those who fried onions and celery and who added chilli and bacon). At the end of the day, it must be said that it was a dish loved by everyone, even children. In fact, contrary to what one might imagine, it does not have strong flavors since the alcoholic component of vodka tends to fade, to eclipse. With that bit of internationality, it soon becomes a classic for singles who want to impress their first romantic dinner, also because it is simple to prepare and above all requires ingredients that are easily present in every pantry.

But what happened to them?

Being a vintage plate it seemed destined to disappear along with all the other recipes that belonged to those wonderful years: for example, like the shrimp cocktail or the champagne rice. Do you remember them? But instead fashions return, reinvent themselves and amaze us, like this pasta, which from the symbol of the fashionable and most popular cuisine that it was, has returned to live its second youth. Not surprisingly, they turned out to be the second most clicked recipe in the United States. In the Carbone restaurant in New York, for example, penne alla vodka, served for the nice price of $ 26, have become so popular that taking them off the menu would trigger a riot of customers. And do you plan to prepare them again?

by Elena Strappa